Frangible fiberglass insulation batts

ABSTRACT

A frangible fiberglass insulation batt includes a pair of fiberglass strips arranged to lie in side-by-side relation to one another and a frangible adhesive bridge spanning a gap between the fiberglass strips and retaining the fiberglass strips in side-by-side relation. To produce such a batt, a fiberglass insulation blanket is cut along its length to form two side-by-side fiberglass strips and then an adhesive material is applied to form a frangible adhesive bridge between the strips.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to apparatus and methods for producingfiberglass insulation batts, and in particular, batts of fiberglassinsulation suitable for use in building construction. More particularly,the present disclosure relates to fiberglass insulation batts that areconfigured to be converted into separate fiberglass insulation strips ofvarious predetermined widths in the field without the use of cuttingtools.

Fiberglass insulation is made of glass fibers held together by a binder.Glass fibers are produced by melting sand or recycled glass products andspinning those materials to produce tiny strands of fiberglass. Glassfibers will not stick together unless they are glued or bound together.A binder is an adhesive material that holds fibers together, allowingthem to keep their shape or overall form. Fiberglass insulation is made,for example, by spraying a binder on the glass fibers. After being curedin an oven, the binder holds the fibers together.

A batt is a blanket of fiberglass insulation used to insulateresidential and commercial buildings. Some batts include a paper or foilfacing material affixed to the fiberglass insulation, and other batts donot include any facing material.

According to the present disclosure, a frangible fiberglass insulationbatt includes a pair of fiberglass strips arranged to lie inside-by-side relation to one another and a frangible adhesive bridgespanning a gap between the fiberglass strips and retaining thefiberglass strips in side-by-side relation. In the field at aconstruction site, a worker can separate one of the fiberglass stripsfrom the other of the strips by pulling one strip laterally away fromthe other strip using a “peeling away” action owing to relatively weakinternal bonds in the frangible adhesive bridge. No tools are needed toaccomplish such separation of the two fiberglass strips.

A method of producing such a frangible fiberglass insulation battcomprises the steps of passing a stream of cured fiberglass insulationthrough a cutter to form two side-by-side fiberglass strips and thenpassing the two side-by-side strips through an adhesive applicator. Theadhesive applicator applies an adhesive material to one or both of thestrips and the strips are mated to establish the frangible adhesivebridge between the strips. This frangible adhesive bridge spans the gapand retains the two fiberglass strips in fixed relation to one anotheruntil the frangible adhesive bridge is, for example, torn along itslength or otherwise fractured by a construction worker in the field.

In an illustrative embodiment, the adhesive applicator includes a stripseparator, an adhesive dispenser, and a strip joiner. The stripseparator intercepts and deflects the moving fiberglass insulation afterit exits the cutter to separate the two side-by-side strips along a cutline therebetween to expose opposing side edges of the strips andprovide a widened gap between the strips. The adhesive dispenser islocated in or near the widened gap between the strips and configured todispense an adhesive material onto one or both of the opposing sideedges of the strips. The strip joiner is configured to manipulate one ormore of the strips to mate the opposing edges of the strips so thatadhesive material deposited therebetween bonds with the fiberglassstrips to establish the frangible adhesive bridge between the fiberglassstrips. Internal bonds of the frangible adhesive bridge are relativelyweak in comparison to internal bonds of the fiberglass strips and arebroken easily by a worker in the field to facilitate separation of onestrip from the other strip without the use of tools.

Additional features of the present disclosure will become apparent tothose skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detaileddescription of illustrative embodiments exemplifying the best mode ofcarrying out the disclosure as presently perceived.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figuresin which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a method in accordance with the presentdisclosure for producing a frangible fiberglass insulation batt (thatcan be separated by hand into strips having predetermined widths) bycuring uncured fiberglass insulation in a “curing oven”, cutting thatfiberglass insulation in a “cutter” to form separate yet adjacentinsulation strips and a gap between the strips, applying an adhesivematerial to the separated strips to cause the strips to bond together toestablish a frangible adhesive bridge spanning the gap between thestrips, and then using either a “strip marker” or “facing apparatus” toindicate the location of the frangible adhesive bridges in thefiberglass insulation;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a frangible fiberglass insulation battformed to include two frangible adhesive bridges extending along thelength of the batt so that the batt can be “broken” manually along thetwo frangible adhesive bridges to produce three separate insulationstrips without the use of cutting tools;

FIG. 2 a shows a fiberglass diagrammatic view of the three strips shownin FIG. 2 and the gaps between those three strips after separation ofthe strips;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a system for producing a fiberglassinsulation batt, which system uses a conveyor to move cured fiberglassinsulation so that the fiberglass insulation is intercepted by, insequence, a cutter, a strip separator, an adhesive dispenser, and astrip joiner and showing a first embodiment (in solid) wherein the stripjoiner comprises a pair of spaced-apart barriers (each barriercomprising, e.g., a rotating wheel) and a second embodiment (in phantom)wherein the strip joiner comprises a “force generator” that functions toapply a pneumatic or other force (using, e.g., compressed air) to moveone or more insulation strips toward another insulation strip;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the system shown in FIG. 3 showing a firststrip separator and first adhesive dispenser in a widened gap formedbetween first and second insulation strips and showing a second stripseparator and second adhesive dispenser in a widened gap formed betweensecond and third insulation strips; and

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Apparatus and methods are disclosed herein for producing a fiberglassinsulation batt that is formed to include longitudinally extendingfrangible planes therein to enable construction workers to convert thefiberglass insulation batt into separate fiberglass insulation strips ofvarious predetermined widths in the field without the use of cuttingtools. A “batt” is a blanket of thermal insulation usually comprisingglass fibers.

Relatively weak internal bonds are established using an adhesivematerial during manufacture of the fiberglass insulation batt to definethe longitudinally extending frangible planes using apparatus andmethods described herein. These internal bonds are strong enough to holdthe fiberglass insulation batt “together in one piece” during transportfrom inventory to a construction site and yet are weak enough to allow aconstruction worker to separate one longitudinally extending strip inthe batt from an adjacent longitudinally extending strip in the battmanually and without the use of cutting tools.

Various methods are suggested diagrammatically in FIG. 1 for producing afrangible fiberglass insulation batt 10 shown, for example, in FIG. 2.Batt 10 is formed using apparatus and methods disclosed herein toinclude two longitudinally extending frangible adhesive bridges 12, 14which are arranged to lie in spaced-apart parallel relation to oneanother to “partition” batt 10 into three formative longitudinallyextending strips 21, 22, and 23.

In the field at a construction site, a worker can separate first strip21 from second strip 22 along first frangible adhesive bridge 14 bypulling one strip laterally away from the other strip using a“peeling-away” or other fracturing action owing to relatively weakinternal bonds established along first frangible adhesive bridge 12between fiberglass material comprising first and second strips 21, 22.Likewise, a worker can separate third strip 23 from second strip 22along second frangible adhesive bridge 14 by pulling one of those stripsaway from the other of those strips in a similar manner owing torelatively weak internal bonds established along second frangibleadhesive bridge 14 between fiberglass material comprising second andthird strips 22, 23. Because, in an illustrative embodiment, eachfrangible adhesive bridge 12, 14 contains only an insubstantial amountof glass fibers, it is readily or easily broken (i.e., frangible) inresponse to manual “tearing” or “peeling” forces applied by aconstruction worker in the field so that the worker can separate onestrip from its side-by-side companion strip manually without the use ofcutting tools.

During building construction activities, workers often need to createinsulation strips of non-conventional width and the ability to create avariety of strip widths without using cutting tools by use of frangiblefiberglass insulation batt 10 would be welcomed by many workers in theconstruction trade. As suggested in FIG. 2, first strip 21 has a width31, second strip 22 has a width 32, and third strip 23 has a width 33.When bonded together during manufacture, first and second strips 21, 22have a combined width 34, second and third strips 22, 23 have a combinedwidth 35, and first, second, and third strips 21, 22, and 23 have acombined width 36. By selecting the location of frangible adhesivebridges 12, 14 carefully during manufacture, it is possible to create aunified but frangible fiberglass insulation batt that can be separatedin the field to produce a wide variety of insulation strip widthswithout using cutting tools.

Using a first method illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 1, a stream ofuncured fiberglass insulation 40 is passed through a curing oven 44 tocause the binder associated with the fiberglass to polymerize duringexposure to fiberglass curing heat (at a temperature of about 350° F. to600° F.) to produce a fiberglass insulation blanket 11. Uncuredfiberglass insulation 40 comprises glass fibers coated with a binder.The binder “sets” when exposed to high temperature in a curing oven 44to bind the glass fibers together. A fiberglass insulation blanket 11 isdischarged from curing oven 44 and transported along a conveyor 50 in adownstream direction 54 past, in series, a cutter 42 and an adhesiveapplicator 43 as suggested, for example, in FIGS. 1 and 3.

Fiberglass insulation blanket 11 is passed through a cutter 42 to cutthe uncured fiberglass insulation 40 into two or more separate strips.Cutter 42 cuts all the way through uncured fiberglass insulation 40along cut lines 53 as the insulation 40 passes through cutter 42 toprovide first, second, and third strips 21, 22, and 23 separated bylongitudinally extending gaps 56 and 58.

Next, an adhesive applicator 43 is used to apply an adhesive material 51to contact the strips along a cut line 53 therebetween established bycutter 42 and to join the strips together to cause the adhesive materialto establish a frangible adhesive bridge spanning a gap between thestrips. To “span” gap 56 or 58 is to extend across the gap andinterconnect the strips defining the gap without necessarily filling orentering the gap. Adhesive material 51 can flow into the gapcontinuously, periodically, or intermittently to establish a suitablefrangible adhesive bridge between the strips. Before batt 10 isdelivered to inventory 48, it is passed through a strip marker 46 thatoperates to apply one or more “indicator lines” to an exterior surfaceof batt 10 to mark the location of each longitudinally extendingfrangible adhesive bridge in batt 10.

Using a method illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 3, cured fiberglassinsulation 39 is passed through a strip press 41 to compress fiberglassinsulation 39 to a compacted thickness before such fiberglass insulation39 is passed through cutter 42. In the illustration embodiment, cutter42 comprises a pressurized fluid source 86 for supplying high-pressurefluid through fluid transfer conduits 87 to fluid-jet nozzles 88 togenerate streams of fluid that pass through fiberglass insulation 39 tocreate longitudinally extending gaps (or cut lines) 56, 58. Strip press41 is positioned to lie upstream of fluid-jet nozzles 88 to compressfiberglass insulation 39 to a compacted thickness selected to facilitate“cutting” fiberglass insulation using fluid-jet nozzles 88. It is withinthe scope of this disclosure to use saw blades (not shown) or otherknife means to cut blanket 11 to form gaps 56, 58.

Using a method illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 1, a facingapparatus 47 is used to apply a facing material (pre-marked withindicator lines) to one surface of the cut fiberglass insulation blanket11 to align the indicator lines with the frangible adhesive bridgesformed in the fiberglass insulation blanket 11. Alternatively, adhesivematerial 51 could have a color different from the color of strips 21,22, 23 to provide suitable, visible indicator lines for gaps 56, 58.

As suggested in FIG. 1, a batt cutter 45 is provided downstream of stripmarker 46 or facing apparatus 47. Batt cutter 45 is configured to cutperiodically the strips 21, 22, 23 and frangible adhesive bridges 12, 14laterally to provide a series of separate elongated frangible fiberglassinsulation batts (not shown) for delivery to inventory 48.

Adhesive applicator 43 comprises a strip separator 60, an adhesivedispenser 62, and a strip joiner 64 arranged in series as suggested, forexample, in FIGS. 3-5. In the illustrated embodiment, adhesive dispenser62 comprises a source of adhesive material 51 for supplying adhesivematerial through transfer conduits 66 to discharge nozzles 68 togenerate streams of adhesive material 51 that are discharged into thegap formed between a pair of side-by-side insulation strips.

As suggested in FIGS. 3-5, fiberglass insulation blanket 11 is passedthrough cutter 42 to cut blanket 11 along a first cut line 53 to formtwo side-by-side separate strips 21, 22 separated by a gap 56 and alonga second cut line 53 to form a third strip 23 separated from secondstrip 22 by a gap 58. As suggested in FIG. 2 a, first strip 21 includesa longitudinally extending side edge 70 that cooperates with an opposinglongitudinally extending side edge 72 of second strip 22 to form gap 56therebetween. Likewise, second strip 72 includes another longitudinallyextending side edge 74 that cooperates with an opposing longitudinallyextending side edge 76 of third strip 23 to form gap 58 therebetween.The width of the gaps 56, 58 shown in FIG. 2 a is exaggerated forclarity and it is within the scope of this disclosure to vary the widthof gaps 56, 58 to accommodate a suitable adhesive material to bedeposited therein.

Adhesive material 51 is applied to one or both of side edges 70, 72 andone or both of side edges 74, 76 by adhesive dispenser 62. In theillustrated embodiment, strip separators 60 are arranged to liedownstream of cutter 42 and configured to separate first strip 21 fromsecond strip 22 at cut line 53 and to separate second strip 22 fromthird strip 23 at cut line 53 to establish widened gaps 156, 158. Eachstrip separator 60 is arranged to intercept blanket 11 at one of cutlines 53 and is shaped to spread the strips apart so that they move awayfrom one another as blanket 11 moves on conveyor 50 in downstreamdirection 54. Although strip separator 60 is shoe-shaped in theillustrated embodiment, a rod or other deflector having a lateraldimension wider than gaps 56, 58 could be used to separate adjacentinsulation strips.

In the illustrated embodiment, adhesive material 51 is dispensed intowidened gaps 156, 158 to contact at least one of side edges 70, 72 andat least one of side edges 74, 76. As suggested in FIGS. 4 and 5,discharge nozzle 68 is located in widened gap 156 and operated todischarge adhesive material 51 onto at least one of side edge 70 offirst strip 21 and side edge 72 of second strip 22. The other dischargenozzle 68 is located in widened gap 158. It is within the scope of thisdisclosure to locate the discharge nozzles 68 near to the widened gaps156, 158 so that adhesive material 51 can be discharged to contact thestrips in a desired manner.

In a first embodiment, strip joiner 64 includes two barriers 80 that arespaced apart from one another to define a channel 15 therebetween assuggested in FIGS. 3 and 4. A downstream portion 13 of fiberglassinsulation blanket 11 (having a width that is wider than the width ofchannel 15) is transported on conveyor 52 through the channel tocompress blanket 11 to cause (1) first and second strips 21, 22 to movetoward one another to trap adhesive material 51 introduced into widenedgap 156 to establish frangible adhesive bridge 12 and (2) second andthird strips 22, 23 to move toward one another to trap adhesive material51 introduced into widened gap 158 to establish frangible adhesivebridge 14.

In one embodiment, each barrier 80 includes an upright axle 82 and anedge roller 84 mounted for rotation on upright axle 82 to engage anexterior edge 86 or 90 of fiberglass insulation blanket 11 as blanket 11moves along conveyor 50. Illustratively, barriers 80 are anchored in afixed position relative to one another and to moving blanket 11 to causethe distance 88 between barriers 80 to be fixed and less than the widthof the portion of blanket 11 entering channel 15 defined by barriers 80.

In another embodiment, strip joiner 64 is provided by force generators91, 92 as suggested in FIGS. 3 and 4. It is within the scope of thisdisclosure to use a first force generator 91 to discharge a first stream(continuous or pulsed flow) of pressurized gas (e.g. air) to impactfirst exterior edge 86 of fiberglass insulation blanket 11 and to use asecond force generator 92 to discharge a second stream of pressurizedgas to impact a second exterior edge 90 of fiberglass insulation blanket11. It is within the scope of this disclosure to use one force generatorto produce both of the first and second streams of pressurized gas. Theforces applied to first exterior edge 86 and to second exterior edge 90cooperate to compress blanket 11 laterally to mate strips 21, 22, and 23to trap the adhesive material 51 deposited there between to formfrangible adhesive bridges 56, 58.

1-24. (canceled)
 25. A frangible fiberglass insulation batt comprising apair of fiberglass insulation strips arranged to lie in side-by-siderelation to one another and a frangible adhesive bridge spanning a gaplocated between the pair of fiberglass insulation strips to produce afrangible bond retaining the fiberglass insulation strips inside-by-side relation.
 26. The frangible fiberglass insulation batt ofclaim 25 comprising glass fibers bonded together to form a first bond,and wherein the frangible bond is a second bond different from the firstbond.
 27. The frangible fiberglass insulation batt of claim 26 whereinthe second bond is formed after the first bond.
 28. The frangiblefiberglass insulation batt of claim 25 wherein the frangible adhesivebond is relatively weak in comparison to the first bond.
 29. A frangiblefiberglass insulation batt comprising at least two previously-separatedand reattached fiberglass insulation strips arranged to lie inside-by-side relation to another, and a frangible adhesive bridgespanning a gap between the previously-separated and reattachedfiberglass insulation strips to produce a frangible bond.